New commuting options for employees: Sounder, Uber, Park-and-ride
Two new roundtrips have been added for the Sounder between Seattle-Lakewood, bringing the total number of roundtrips in South King and Pierce Counties up to 13 per weekday. During peak hours, Sounder trains will arrive as often as every 20 minutes. View the full Sounder Lakewood-Seattle schedule here. A new transit discount program offered by Uber aimed at people living in Rainier Valley and South King County will allow for employees to get a $3.50 discount on all UberX and UberPOOL trips to and from qualifying light rail stations. To see participating light rail stations and full instructions to set up the discount in the Uber app, please… Read More
Five tips on how to prepare for a disaster on a budget
Crossposted from Public Health Insider Whenever I think about emergency preparedness, it sounds like a lot of work and a lot of money. When money is tight, it’s hard to make emergency preparedness a priority. Since it is National Preparedness Month, I decided to find ways to help save money while preparing for an emergency. Here are a few tips to make emergency preparedness kit less expensive. Tip #1: Start with Things at Home In my home, I have a lot of stuff. I started building my kit by taking things from my house that… Read More
Industries honored for dedication to clean water
Crossposted from Clean Water Stories Believe it or not, industry is still a major employer in King County, accounting for over 100,000 jobs in the city of Seattle alone. Another little known fact is how much emphasis our local industries put on environmental stewardship. One of our responsibilities as a clean-water utility is to regulate facilities that discharge industrial wastewater to our regional sewer system, and we issue permits to make sure this wastewater won’t harm the environment, our workers, or our treatment system. Permit conditions might call for facilities to regularly… Read More
KCDOT works with local consulates to reach Spanish-speaking customers
Crossposted from Inside Transportation As part of our commitment to delivering accessible service to all residents of King County, regardless of their place of origin, KCDOT leadership recently met with the local consuls of five Latin American nations to help us improve our communications with Spanish-speaking customers. Nearly one of every 10 King County residents is of Hispanic/Latinx origin, according to the last census, and of those who speak Spanish at home, nearly half say they speak English less than “very well.” Language can become a barrier to using public transit, and elements… Read More
Drug court judge helps people get back on the road to recovery
Crossposted from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Facebook For years, Judge James Cayce presided over mostly criminal trials: Child rapes. Murders. One family torture trial stretched out over four months, but despite the difficult nature of the crimes, Judge Cayce enjoyed the work. When the opportunity came along to preside over Drug Court, Judge Cayce hesitated. “I didn’t want to do drug court at first, but Judge Carey asked me to do Drug Court on Fridays in Kent, so I sat in a couple of times…and I loved it,” he recalls…. Read More
To improve innovation and accountability, Executive Constantine proposes to make Metro its own County department
King County Executive Dow Constantine directed work to begin on a plan to move Metro from a division within the King County Department of Transportation to a standalone County department. This would increase innovation and accountability in four areas: increasing mobility options, capital construction, investing in Metro’s workforce, and expanding the transit system through partnerships. “This region increasingly depends on fast, reliable transit. So it’s no surprise that Metro is one of our most vital, visible, and popular services,” said Executive Constantine. “By elevating Metro as a standalone department, we can better… Read More
The Cat Condos have arrived!
Crossposted from Tails from RASKC Thanks to the Petco Foundation grant, our long awaited cat condos arrived last Friday and were immediately put to great use by our cat residents who have been excitedly purring and relaxing since being placed in their new homes. See pictures below or feel free to stop our pet adoption center in Kent! Read more at Tails from RASKC
Kudos! Courteous Metro Transit driver provides outstanding customer service
The following kudos was received June 12 and is from a King County Metro rider: Driving a bus is not an easy job with the traffic, so when you encounter a driver who goes beyond the job it needs to be acknowledged. So with that in mind I would like to bring to your attention the driver [Andrea Abbott] I had this afternoon who not only drove the bus in a safe and efficient manner but also provided the kind of customer service you like to receive; each passenger was greeted as they boarded with… Read More
King County Executive announces new grant opportunities for unincorporated area projects
King County Executive Dow Constantine today announced the availability of Community Service Area grant funding for a wide variety of educational, cultural and environmental projects that will benefit residents of unincorporated areas. “Community Service Area grants help people share in local art, enhance our forests and green spaces, and connect with neighbors young and old,” said Executive Constantine. “We are proud to support the youth and senior projects, movie and music nights, and neighborhood gatherings that help make King County such a great place to call home.” A total of $90,000 in King County… Read More
King County controls a new noxious weed!
Crossposted from Noxious Weeds Blog It’s not every day you find a new noxious weed in your county, but this August King County had one of those days. On Aug. 15, our program was alerted to an infestation of the Class A noxious weed ricefield bulrush (Schoenoplectus mucronatus) growing in a wetland just east of Redmond. Sean Davis with Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge in Clark County helped confirm the ID of the species. Prior to this discovery, the main known location of this plant in Washington state had been in the Ridgefield refuge, along… Read More
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